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Position Title: Manager Inventory Strategy & Planning

Position Type: Regular - Full-Time ​

Position Location: Oakbrook Terrace ; Toronto, Ontario, Canada ; Florenceville-Bristol, New Brunswick, Canada

Grade: Grade 06 

Requisition ID: 29296 

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This position can be located at any one of our three corporate offices: Toronto, ON, Florenceville, NB or Oakbrook, IL.

SUMMARY:
The Manager, Inventory Strategy & Planning will be responsible for the visioning, strategy development, and delivery of processes and initiatives to optimize McCain North America’s inventory positions which includes ALBD.  In addition, this role will lead the Planning Master Data and Analysis team, responsible for the maintenance and support of planning tools and processes that are a key enabler to the success of the North American Planning function.   This role will help provide a sustainable cost advantage through analysis, process improvement, opportunity identification and implementation of tactical and operational plans, and reporting.  Key initiatives include assessing multi-echelon inventory optimization, and safety and cycle stock improvements.  The scope of work will frequently span other functions at McCain, and will often times be tied to ambiguous problems.  

The Manager Inventory Strategy & Planning is expected to leverage strong analytical, project management, and modeling capabilities, and will become a functional expert of inventory optimization tools used to drive favorable inventory placement, service levels, and cost to serve. In addition, this role will develop and apply advanced knowledge of Planning data, supporting the team in system maintenance and optimization efforts.

 ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead the ongoing design and execution of an advanced inventory optimization process, focused on repeatability and continuous improvement.
• Coach the inventory team and take a leadership role in the development and maintenance of safety stock targets for all product-location combinations in the North American network, considering demand & supply variability, costs, space and target service levels.
• Lead evaluation and implementation of appropriate multi-echelon inventory management policies, considering existing and future network design, warehouse capacities, deployment constraints, and customer requirements.
• Lead team in the evaluation of opportunities to adjust run strategies to optimize safety & cycle stock, lower variable costs, and liberate production capacity.
• Lead the ongoing design and execution of a process to manage and disposition blocked, slow moving, and obsolete inventory, including products at various stages of the product lifecycle.
• Conduct “what-if” scenarios to capture the relationship between inventory positions, service levels, storage capacity utilization, forecast accuracy, schedule adherence, and transportation reliability.
• Communicate and educate on inventory strategies and methodology to the Planning team members who are responsible for executing Production Planning & Scheduling for North America.
• Prepare clear and concise reports, dashboards, and presentations to help communicate your messages effectively to key stakeholders and leaders.
• Identify and lead problem resolution when aggregated inventory levels are not achieving business plan objectives.
• Develop knowledge of Planning systems to the level of SME in order to support the Master Data and analysis team in the optimization and assurance of proper data flow to enable demand/supply planning as designed.
• Take leadership role in partnership with McCain IT to resolve issues/errors in data or process.
• Lead the Supply Chain/Planning portion of the C&F/MMRF process- ensuring optimization is ongoing with efficient resourcing.   

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• To perform this position successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.

  
REQUIRED EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Operations Research, or Industrial Engineering from an accredited institution
• Demonstrates strong understanding of Supply Chain principles and fundamentals, including planning methodologies and plant operations
• 3+ years of experience in inventory management, supply chain planning, or optimization modeling in a complex manufacturing and distribution environment
• Demonstrated ability to lead a team, supporting operations while driving for functional transformation.
• Detail oriented with the ability to work with speed and accuracy
• Ability to analyze large amounts of data, models and results using Microsoft Excel, Access, and other data-driven tools
• Passion for challenging the status quo
• Ability to investigate complex issues and conduct root cause analysis
• Passion for creating innovative approaches to solve abstract business problems
• Ability to infer realistic business and supply chain implications from data and model results
• Thinks through alternatives and effectively develops contingency plans
• Results focused with a bias towards decisive action
• Must be a self-motivated, analytical and independent thinker
• Effectively communicates complex results and recommendations in a dynamic environment
• Experience with SAP IBP, or related inventory optimization tool strongly preferred
• Experience with SAP APO/IBP or related S&OP tool preferred
• Experience with an ERP solution such as SAP preferred
   

McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. We see value in ensuring we have a diverse, antiracist, inclusive, merit-based, and equitable workplace.  As a global family-owned company we are proud to reflect the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that diversity drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger. 
 
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.

The health and safety of McCain employees and their families has been our number one priority since the start of COVID-19 pandemic. With vaccination restrictions easing across the globe we do not currently require employees to be vaccinated, but we reserve the right to change this mandate in line with health guidance and regulations in each country.
 
Your privacy is important to us. By submitting personal data or information to us, you agree this will be handled in accordance with the Global Employee Privacy Policy 

Job Family: Supply Chain & Logistics      
Division: NA Supply Chain 
Department: ​NA Inventory ​
Location(s): CA - Canada : New Brunswick : Florenceville-Bristol || CA - Canada : Ontario : Toronto || US - United States of America : Illinois : Oakbrook Terrace 

Company: McCain Foods USA, Inc.